Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has been released from US federal custody after serving a relatively brief sentence of less than two years for her involvement in her husband’s extensive criminal enterprise. This development comes as a result of a plea deal with prosecutors, which includes a four-year period of supervised release.
The 34-year-old, who had been sentenced to three years in prison in November 2021, was transferred from a federal prison in Texas to a halfway house in Long Beach, California, in June, paving the way for her release.
During her sentencing, Coronel Aispuro expressed sincere remorse for any harm caused and had pleaded guilty to charges related to money laundering, as well as conspiring to distribute various narcotics, including cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana, for import into the United States. Her arrest had taken place in February 2021 at Dulles International Airport, and she was subsequently convicted of drug trafficking and money laundering charges by a jury in Washington DC later that same year.
Notably, she had also played a role in aiding her husband’s audacious prison escape plan in 2015, which involved an elaborate tunnel dug beneath a Mexican prison. Prosecutors revealed that she had cleverly smuggled a GPS watch, disguised as food, enabling the tunnel builders to precisely locate and reach El Chapo.
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the infamous leader of the Sinaloa cartel, was recaptured the following year and ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment in a US facility in 2019. His conviction was the culmination of a lengthy drug conspiracy spanning over two decades, linked to murder and widespread chaos.
El Chapo, who married Emma Coronel Aispuro on her 18th birthday in July 2007, reportedly remains legally tied to his first wife, Alejandrina Salazar, a social worker he married in 1977, as claimed in a book published last year. Their wedding ceremony had garnered attention, with reports of attendance by members of Mexico’s army, politicians, and the governor of Sinaloa. The couple also shares 10-year-old twin daughters.
